Drink this infusion of garlic, ginger and lemon to help lower cholesterol and break down these fatty deposits in the arteries. Here, we take a look at what cholesterol is, its effect on the body and how each of these ingredients can play an important role in improving cardiovascular help. First, how to prepare this infusion!

What you need:

4 lemons

1.32 gallons of water

4 Garlic cloves

1 small ginger root (1.5 inches)

How to prepare it?

Peel the garlic and split the cloves in half.

Thoroughly wash the lemons and cut them into small pieces without peeling them first.

Divide the mixture into three separate glass containers and fill them up with the remaining warm water.

Seal them and store them in the refrigerator for three days.

After three days have passed, strain the contents of the container and put it back in the refrigerator.

You might want to drink the liquid warm, however it is not recommended that you boil it since doing so will deactivate allicin, the active compound in garlic. Although you can either blend or chop the garlic and ginger into small pieces, chopping may be preferable as this preserves the allicin content which is released upon crushing and active for a very short time. For this reason, chewing the chopped garlic is to be encouraged! Since much of the flavanoid is in the peel of lemon, you might want to consider buying organic unwaxed lemons, grating and then adding some of the peel.

The role of cholesterol:

You’ve no doubt heard of good cholesterol and bad cholesterol but what exactly is it and what is the difference? Cholesterol is a fatty, waxy substance produced in the liver, known as a lipid and is vital for the maintenance of every cell, vitamin E and hormone production as well as for producing the bile which helps us to digest our food. The following explanation clarifies why to think in terms of good and bad cholesterol can be a little misleading, as in fact both are essential for proper functioning of the body. In order for cholesterol to benefit cells and carry out its various bodily functions, it is pumped round our body and transported to our cells in our blood where it combines with protein to become a lipoprotein. Here is the key distinction, when cholesterol attaches to protein it can either become an HDL (high density lypoprotein) or a LDL low density (lipoprotein).

LDL, often referred to as the bad cholesterol, is carried in the blood for the cells to attach to and extract all the cholesterol they need. HDL, commonly termed the good cholesterol because of its protective role, then takes over on a clean up mission of sorts, picking up any excess cholesterol in the bloodstream as it circulates and carrying it back to the liver to be reprocessed. This is important as too much LDL cholesterol is recognized as being the primary cause of atherosclerosis, the disease in which there is a narrowing and build up of plaque in the arteries. When cholesterol builds up in the artery walls, the risk to cardiovascular health is high as blood flow can be restricted to the heart and brain with the risk of a clot forming elsewhere in the body.

From this, it can be seen that it’s not really an issue of bad or good cholesterol per se, but more a case of avoiding this accumulation of fatty deposits. With the liver producing 80 % of the cholesterol that we need and only the remaining 20% coming from food it is therefore advisable to avoid too much cholesterol in our diets. Reducing saturated fats, generally found in meat and dairy and replacing them with the non-saturated fats found in plants and fish is recommended in order to lower our cholesterol intake.

What role do lemon, garlic and ginger play in cardiovascular health?

Lemons

Citric flavonoids have been found to be beneficial to cardiovascular health in general. Lemon juice in particular contains significant amounts of the flavanones, hesperidin and eriocitrin, with hesperidin having a cardio-protective action and eriocitrin specifically has been shown to have a lipid‐lowering effect. Other citric fruits, which have been shown to have a similar beneficial effect are oranges which contain the flavonoid narinjin and limes.

Garlic

Long renowned for it’s benefits for cardiovascular health, there is clear evidence that garlic lowers cholesterol. Many studies confirm garlic’s ability to induce changes with blood lipids, lowering both cholesterol and triglycerides levels. This is believed to be due to the active ingredient allicin and its breakdown into organic polysulfides which in turn help to generate hydrogen sulfide (H2S), the compound understood to be responsible for strengthening cardiovascular health. Some of the results of these studies have however been inconsistent, causing speculation as to how much of the active ingredient content allicin is available in some supplement forms. Although another study with a fresh clove of garlic consumed daily yielded excellent results with a 20% reduction of serum cholesterol levels.

Ginger:

Despite the use of ginger for health purposes going back thousands of years and having roots in Ayurvedic medicine, still relatively little is understood as to its metabolism and mechanism of action for potential therapeutic effects. That said, there have been numerous studies which have confirmed it to be effective not only for digestive issues, nausea, pain, inflammation and as a anti-carcinogenic, but also for cardiovascular health.

Studies involving animals indicate the ability of ginger to reduce LDL cholesterol levels and decrease aortic atherosclerotic lesions, from the build-up of lipid. Since ginger is known to have anti-inflammatory properties, it also makes sense that it could help with the inflammation associated with atherosclerosis which causes a narrowing of the arteries. In another double blind, controlled clinical study in 2008, volunteer patients who took ginger powder were found to have significantly lowered lipid levels.

How to consume it:

The first few days you should just take a soup spoon full of this mixture a half hour before each meal.

If you have no side effects you can increase this to two soup spoonfuls a half hour before each meal.

Continue to increase the amount until you can take 50 ml. three times a day. In other words, you should not take more than 150 ml. daily

44 Comments

Squeeze the lemons. Peel and cut up the ginger. Toss into the water. Bring water to boil. When water cooling chop up the garlic and toss into the water. Don’t boil the garlic. Drink. This is not rocket science. Just use common sense. 🙂

Why boil the water with lemons in it — why not put in a vita-mix blender and add 2 cups water and a half of lemon with peeling and all–as the oil is in the skin of the lemon and then skin the ginger 1 inch amount and garlic and blend and then I drink though out the day a little here and a little there. Sure good for clearing mucus out of the body also.

Hi Dennis,
Here’s how to prepare it:
How can you prepare it?
Peel the garlic and split the cloves in half.
Thoroughly wash the lemons and cut them into small pieces without peeling them first.
Mix these ingredients with warm water that has been boiled.
Divide the mixture into three separate glass containers and fill them up with the remaining warm water.
Seal them and store them in the refrigerator for three days.
After three days have passed, strain the contents of the container and put it back in the refrigerator.

Thank you for this article. My cholesterol is high for a females in our family. Its genetic on my side. Our men gets punished– die early . Women die in their 70/80s. My grandfather, father, and first born son was 40. Father was 52 after 3rd heart attack.

How to consume it:
The first few days you should just take a soup spoon full of this mixture a half hour before each meal.
If you have no side effects you can increase this to two soup spoonfuls a half hour before each meal.
Continue to increase the amount until you can take 50 ml. three times a day. In other words, you should not take more than 150 ml. daily.

This is a no-brainer….Red yeast rice is a natural statin and works the same same way a statin drug does…even some of the same side effects like depleting CoQ10….so of course don’t take a statin and red yeast rice together…it’s one or the other….and a few caveats to taking the right red yeast rice, like only organic, 600 md 2x/day, take it with CoQ10, etc. Google the rest of the precautions to follow if you choose to go with red yeast rice….

How to consume it:
The first few days you should just take a soup spoon full of this mixture a half hour before each meal.
If you have no side effects you can increase this to two soup spoonfuls a half hour before each meal.
Continue to increase the amount until you can take 50 ml. three times a day. In other words, you should not take more than 150 ml. daily.

Like others here I am curious as to the amount we should be drinking to see some benefit. Is this something we should make daily and drink, or is it a glass or two a day…or something other? Thanks for the recipe.

How to consume it:
The first few days you should just take a soup spoon full of this mixture a half hour before each meal.
If you have no side effects you can increase this to two soup spoonfuls a half hour before each meal.
Continue to increase the amount until you can take 50 ml. three times a day. In other words, you should not take more than 150 ml. daily.

All true…
Additionally (I’m not prescribing, just suggesting…), you can take one 600mg capsule of CoQ10 twice each day.

Most people, when I suggest this, say, “I’m already taking a vitamin.” Or they say, “I get all the vitamins I need in my vitamin I take.” The problem is, CoQ10 isn’t a vitamin. It’s a completely different supplemental nutrient, a powerful anti-oxidant designed to decrease inflammation, the real cause of many diseases.

Here’s the kicker… many doctors will say it’s not necessary as there’s no evidence that it works. I’ll be 68 this year. I took it for two years and went back to my cardiologist after taking it for the two years. He did blood work. Everything that was out of whack prior to me taking the regimen of it was now in normal range. He said it shouldn’t have worked. I took it anyway. He then said (jokingly) my good health wasn’t paying for his kids’ college tuition.

Note again: I’m not prescribing. I’m merely suggesting you have nothing to lose by taking it. It’s a bit expensive in health-food stores but less-so on Amazon.

Taking CoQ10 is a good idea. However, taking that large of an amount may not be necessary. Your body does make it. As you get older it makes less and less. Some is good, more is not necessarily better. 100mg/day is fine if you are on the younger side (60ish) or female, 200mg/day if you are male and/or older (75+ish). 1200/day is a bit over the top. I would try cutting it in half and seeing if it still works for you.

So.. the best way to make this is to rough chop the vegetables and put them in a LARGE jar or crock. Pour very warm – but not boiling, water over and place a weight on top that will keep all the veges under the liquid and let this sit (put cheese cloth over the top to keep critters out) for about 3 weeks. strain out the veges (I then dry them and grind them for seasoning my meats) and bottle the liquid and keep it in the fridge to stop the fermenting process (this is creating a vinegar of sorts). Drink about 2-3 Tablespoons (or add to a warm not hot beverage) daily for full benefits.
If you really want to amp up the benefits of this, use apple cider vinegar instead of water as the liquid. You can just feel yourself getting clean in just a couple of days. I use this every morning with a little honey in a cup of warm water.

I don’t go to Doctors except to get sewn up so I don’t know my ‘numbers’, a Curandera I respect told me to chop a clove of garlic and take it with fresh squeezed juice of one lime daily for circulatory health, that’s a pretty stout flavor jolt but I think I’d rather take my chances with cholesterol than drink the above mixture after it soaked in water for 3 weeks. Shouldn’t you drop a couple Aquatabs in there first?

Just get no flush niacin (Vitamin B3), garlic supplement, fish oil capsules, and Vitamin K2…..this is a lot easier and is as effective and none of the confusion…don’t forget a multi-vitamin too….the K2 vitamin chelates/removes the calcium deposits from the arteries/veins/capillaries and transports it out of the body, the niacin and fish oil and garlic take care if lowering cholesterol, decreasing LDL and increasing HDL….never go below a total cholesterol of 170-190…any lower than that then you’ll have hormone problems and disruption of the endocrine system….I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice nor is it meant to diagnose, treat, cure or be a substitute for your doctor’s advice….but it worked for me so well my doc asked me how I did it…brought cholesterol down to 180, LDL below 150 and HDL higher than 40 ng/dl….started at a cholesterol of 240 and did this in 8 weeks….and don’t forget to drink lots of water and do some light exercise like walking and using light weights for a workout….this worked for me and is my experience, if you choose to follow such a regimen without your doctor’s advice you agree to not hold me responsible for any information I disseminated here in this post as once again I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice.

There are many herbal remedies that also decrease cholesterol. Policosynol, Homocysteine, and Arjuna to name a few. However, do your due diligence. Look up a lot of information on it and see what works for you. Be careful with your health. You only have one life. Treat it well. ☺